Snippets of Stars
by zyrea
Summary: A collection of unfinished bits and pieces, starting with HP/YGO5Ds. Rating may change, but mostly 'cause I swear too much.
1. Chapter 1

Snippets of Stars - or random odds and ends I found on a USB and decided to dump here. So, basically, snippets, scenes and such that maybe, possibly, but probably won't be continued/finished. Most won't be edited properly. This will probably start out as a collection of Harry Potter/Yugioh 5Ds snippets, but others crossovers will be added later. If anyone is interested in adopting one of these please PM me.

Catch It Quick

Jack's inability to hold down a job, and therefore permanent state of brokeness, may have had an influence on him leaving Satellite. Of course there were other reasons, but what if some of those reasons were negated by him finding gainful employment, and with it introducing the gang to one of the most unusual people they could ever hope to meet?

Jack snorted as he walked away from his latest adventure in employment. His asshole of an ex-boss was clearly a moron, and there was no way they could seriously have expected him to clean that shit off the floor. If the dumbass couldn't handle the truth, well, that wasn't his problem.

The two hour stint as a waiter was the latest in a string of jobs the blond duellist had, ahem, walked away from. While he wasn't sorry about losing any of them, Crow was seriously starting to get on his case about his money problems, and even Yusei was starting to notice, and had been throwing him looks every now and then. Kalin had yet to comment, but then, none of them were really sure how he felt about money. He was more of a direct control guy. It wasn't that he had a problem; it was just that the necessities were so damn expensive! How the hell was he supposed to function without coffee and ramen?

He ignored the little niggle in the back of his mind that agreed with Crow. The niggle whispered about his debt, sometimes, late in the night. It whispered and hissed about how far it was getting out of hand, about impulse control, and about what would happen if he let it grow even further. They probably wouldn't stop with him either...

Just as he was really building up for an epic internal rant, a small, a flash of white caught his eye. He turned towards it, and found himself staring through a small window into a rather dimly lit shop. The brightness that had caught his eye was a sign tucked up into the corner, 'Help Wanted'. Well, there was nothing to lose, and he was curious as to what this place actually did. Plus, the others wouldn't need to know that he was working a different job than he had been that morning...

Smirking slightly, Jack straightened up, and pushed open the door, and was instantly assaulted by a multitude of scents and spices. There was no bell over the door, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd set off some kind of alarm, and felt the back of his neck prickle in reaction.

XXxXX

"Well now, what do we have here?" A soft voice echoed around the blond, and he almost jumped, but restrained himself. He could feel the annoyance from losing a job, which had fled at this new opportunity, returning. "And what can I do for you?"

"You could start by actually showing yourself", Jack couldn't help but snap. A quiet laugh was his only response.

"And where would be the fun in that? You people have such amusing reactions. I can really see why Ollivander did it, although it was rather terrifying at the time", the voice mused. Jack couldn't tell where it was coming from, but figured it had to be the direction he was facing. There was only the door and window to his back.

"Is this how you treat all potential employees?" Jack sneered, trying not to show how freaked out he really was by this. He was fairly sure he succeeded.

"Ah!" Suddenly it wasn't so hard to pinpoint the voice, and the blond couldn't help but choke as he twisted to the left and almost completely around. "So, you're here about the job. Well, you seem interesting enough." He could just make out a rather slender figure in the shadowed corner.

"Interesting? Is that all you look for? I'm the most interesting person in this whole town." Jack was confused, and that only made him more frustrated, but there was also something else, something-

"This whole town, you say? That certainly is something. I suppose you know anything and everything there is to know too?" Then before Jack could retort, the figure continued, "The hours are a bit irregular, and the job itself is a bit of a mash up, but you'll be here for about four to six hours three days a week. Pay is $12 an hour for regular things and I'll double it if anything really chancy comes up. You can start now or come back tomorrow, but I'd advise against wearing anything you don't want damaged, and maybe avoid anything overly shiny."

Jack blinked. "That's it? No interview? No CV? Just, 'you're hired'?"

"'Hired' is relative." The figure shifted, and started to move forward."Well, you did say you were interesting, and what's the use in a CV when you've probably never done what you're about to, and will probably never again? Besides, it's not so much the help I need. So very few actually come in here knowing anything at all. It's been getting a little dull."

With that, he stepped fully into the light, and Jack nearly choked. Instead of the oldish, creepy looking guy he'd been half expected, there stood before him a young man, barely older that Jack, with long black hair pulled back, a petite build, skin so pale it almost glowed, and the greenest eyes he'd ever seen. They seemed to dance, and match the rather mischievous turn of his lips perfectly. He was incredibly good looking, almost inhumanly so, and Jack couldn't help but stare.

"Tomorrow, then. I rather look forward to working with you Jack. Do drop by any time that suits." With that, he slipped around the blond duellist, and somehow had him out of the door in the blink of an eye. As he walked back to the shared hideout of Team Satisfaction, Jack never even realised that he'd never given his name.

Glowing green eyes watched as blond duellist walked away, and sparked with anticipation. Perhaps this world wouldn't be so bad after all.

XXxXX

Avoiding the disbelieving look thrown his way by Crow, and the small, but encouraging smile from Yusei, Jack headed out the next morning, a little more positive than he had been yesterday. Sure, he was still confused as hell, but he'd decided not to dwell on it. The job couldn't be that bad, and if it was, well, he'd just tell the guy to shove it. It could hardly be that difficult either.

Walking quickly, but not too quickly, back the way he'd gone the day before, it took Jack nearly thirty minutes to reach the out of the way building. It was odd, he reflected, that he could remember seeing it, ever. He'd been sure that they, Team Satisfaction, knew every inch of Satellite. Maybe he'd bring the others here sometime, if everything went well.

Jack couldn't work out why he was feeling so positive about this job when, at most, all he'd ever felt for the many, many others was indifference, with the occasional hint of disgust. If he'd been anyone else, he might even have called himself hopeful, but Jack Atlas didn't hope, he did.

Reaching the right door, he pushed it open, and again felt the eerie sense that he'd set off a silent alarm and was being watched. Just as he was about to announce himself (in the loudest, most obnoxious way he knew) the voice of his new employer rang out.

"Straight through the back, I was just finished making coffee. You want?"

Yeah, Jack thought as he made a beeline for the door just visible at the back, there was no way this could be as bad as the last place.

The blond was greeted with the sight of a surprisingly light and airy kitchen. Leaning at the counter, holding out a steaming mug, the raven-haired man waited with an amused smirk. Choosing to ignore this, Jack all but snatched the mug away, and inhaled.

"Well, at least you've got good taste."

Slowing down, the blond took a moment to savour the taste and smell. It was stronger than what was usually served in cafes, darker, with only a hint of bitterness that was offset with only the smallest amount of milk. It was quite possibly one of the best cups of coffee he'd had in ages.

Turning to ask just how he'd done it, Jack opened his mouth and frowned, realising something.

"What's your name, anyway? You never said."

The other man hummed and smiled. "No, I don't suppose I did. Well, you'll have to call me Ri.

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"No, it's not my full name, but the people around here tend to butcher the pronunciation, so this will work for now. Maybe I'll teach you to say it sometime."

"So what exactly is this place? The front is kind of a dump." No way was Jack restraining himself. He never had (mostly) and he never would (probably).

"Are you offering to clean it? The front is just that, a front. I suppose you could call this an apothecary/curio shop."

"A what?" Jack could feel his confusion from the previous day return, and started to wonder just how long he'd stick this out. It would be a first for him, quitting before he was fired.

"Oh, you know," No, he damn well didn't. Why would he waste his breath asking if he did? "Alternative medicine, odds and ends, books, dreams, endings." But Jack hadn't heard the last two.

"Books? You actually have books? On paper?" the blond's disbelief was clear. No one had books anymore; there hadn't been any around for decades.

"Oh yes, would you like to see? Granted, you won't be able to read them, unless you've spent a lifetime studying dead languages" Ri was clearly enjoying this, and grinned at the clear scepticism on Jack's face.

"Maybe later. What do you expect me to do? I'm not cleaning up shit." Jack said bluntly, letting the book issue drop for now. While he might not use tact often, something told him to avoid calling his new employer a liar on the first day. (He didn't know why, he'd never had a problem with it before).

"Well then it's a good thing that there's no shit to clean up. For the moment its just reorganisation, labelling, maybe some lifting. A few things are quite delicate, or require specialist handling, but I'll deal with those. There might be a few delivery runs later, but this isn't the type of place you see much traffic. Follow me upstairs once you finish that and we'll get started."

Jack suddenly remembered the mug in his hand, and glanced down to see it was nearly empty. He looked up, but Ri had disappeared. Draining the last of the coffee, the blond straightened up from where he'd been leaning against a wall, and headed up the stairs.

The warped wooden boards creaked as he put his weight on them, but seemed sturdy enough. Reaching the top, Jack had to stoop a bit to get through the door. Straightening, he glanced around was appeared to be a fairly typical store room. There were boxes everywhere and a few sets of shelves. Light shone in from a high window, casting odd shadows along the wall to Jack's left.

In the middle of the room, Ri was bent over, peering into a fairly big box with an odd symbol on the side. "That was quick. Why don't you start unpacking that big box with the green lines? Just stack everything on the desk beside it."

Grunting, Jack moved to comply. Lifting out a small statue of a snake, he examined the finely crafted figurine before setting it down. This didn't seem so bad...

XXxXX

Two hours later, Jack was wondering at the sanity of his employer. He'd never encountered a weirder collection, hell, he didn't even know what most of this stuff was, and _was that a jar of eyeballs? _

"Something wrong, sweetling? Oh, I was wondering where I'd left that, thank you." Lifting the jar, Ri swung around with a smile, setting it on a shelf. He continued humming lightly, as though there weren't body parts not six inches from his elbow. "If you come across a smallish box of knives, let me know, and make sure not to touch any of the silver ones, ok?"

What kind of psychopath was he working for? Oh, God, he was a serial killer. That was why he was in this crappy building, he was going to _kill him_.

"Sweetling? Are you all right? Here, sit down a moment, I'll get you something to drink." The smaller man sounded genuinely worried as he nudged the blond to a chair. Jack snapped out of his minor panic at the touch, reminded himself that he had at least five inches and two stone on the brunette and snapped, "Why the hell do you have a _jar _of _eyeballs?_"

Ri looked up at him, blinked, and then a smile broke out across his face. If Jack hadn't had the comment about the knives stuck in his head he would probably have been thoroughly distracted.

"Oh, is that all? I thought you might be sick. Don't worry, they're just toads' eyes. Easier to get than newts' and they have just the same effects mostly. They're for a couple of the heavy duty burn and bruise balms."

"Balms? And what was that about the knives?" Jack was confused again, and embarrassed about his loss of control. The two were combining, and were not helping his temper any.

Ri paused, studying Jack's face, then sighed. "Look, Jack, let's go have a cup of coffee and I'll explain a bit more about what it is I do, alright? At least the bit involving the eyes and knives".

Jack almost refused, but the memory of that coffee stopped him. Still...

"I think I probably have some ramen, too, if you're hungry."

The ramen wasn't cup, but was still very good, and the coffee was amazing, this time smooth with the slightest scent of burnt wood. Ri sat opposite nursing his own cup but sans food.

"I told you this was partly an apothecary, yes? That means I deal in alternative medicines, herbal remedies and such. Not many people have much faith in them nowadays, but it was the way I was brought up, and these medicines were taken very seriously. A lot of it is mixing different herbs and plants, but the serious solutions do occasionally call for animal parts and, yes, they do work."

Jack swallowed a mouthful of noodles "So, what, you give someone a magic potion and they're better? Really?"

Ri frowned lightly. "Sneer all you want, but I've seen them work. Besides, I note a distinct lack of hospitals around here, so are you really going to turn down any form of healing offered?"

Jack scowled but didn't answer. He couldn't, not when Ri was right. There was no real hospital, just a few half-trained doctors scattered around the town. "The knives?" He asked instead.

"Preparation is half the battle. The way certain ingredients are tended to can greatly affect the potency of the medicine." Suddenly Ri smiled. "Take some of the bruise balm with you when you leave for the day. I've been meaning to make a new batch anyway. I'm going to head back up, but you stay and finish lunch. Feel free to ask if you have any more questions!"

XXxXX

And so life continued. The eyeballs weren't the last part of a dead animal Jack found, or even the weirdest. The animal parts themselves weren't even the weirdest things Ri had tucked away, and he found himself handling, among other things, archaic weaponry, beautifully carved, almost lifelike figurines and statuettes, oddly carved boxes, many, many keys, and books. Lots of books. Not a single one of which he could understand. The duellist had been reluctantly fascinated by the ancient things, but had never been able to swallow his pride enough to ask Ri what was in them.

Speaking of his boss, Jack was now thoroughly convinced that his employer was insane. He would switch between light humming and total silence with no warning, randomly popped up all over the place, got completely distracted at the strangest times, and was frighteningly focused at others. He also seemed to find Jack's rude, arrogant nature amusing and endearing, and had taken to calling him 'sweetling' above anything else. It was a completely surreal experience for the blond. What was more, he found himself not minding, and was even growing fond of the other male in the same way he was of his teammates.

His teammates, though initially shocked that he had managed to hold down a job for more than a day, were supportive, especially as he was no longer sponging off of them, and still somehow had time to duel with them. They were naturally curious about what made this job so different from the others, but had decided not to question a good thing. Crow had even commented on how it had been ages since he had spent a ridiculous amount of money on coffee, but it just wasn't worth it after Ri's. It helped that the man always had a pot waiting for him in the morning, and seemed to love the dark ambrosia just as much.

XXxXX

It was after the incident with the Magicians' Four duel gang that the two areas of Jack's life finally collided. Despite everything, Crow had been hurt during the incident. It wasn't too bad, but the heavy bruising looked awful, and the redhead winced every time he took a deep breath.

"We can't go to Martha. She's got enough to worry about, and it's not like she could actually help."

Yusei hovered by the door to one of the upper rooms of the warehouse. "We need to do something."

"What?" Kalin snorted, frustration clear. "The doctors around here barely deserve the name, and we don't have the money."

Jack was leaning against the doorpost staring at the wall when, "Ri".

"What?" Come on Jack, we don't have time for this."

"No, dumbass, Ri. He's a kind of Healer. He owns the place I work at."

Crow, propped up on a librated couch, frowned. "I thought you worked in a restaurant," he wheezed.

The blond shifted impatiently, "I haven't worked there in ages. Ri owns this apothecary- weird shop type place around the corner from it. If nothing else, he'll have something to knock you out."

Kalin turned, ready to snap, when Yusei spoke, "You think he'd help? That he'd come here at this time?"

"We can't bring someone else here!" Kalin burst out, then calmed. "This is meant to be a haven for us. Could we bring Crow there?"

"It would probably be better if we did", Jack admitted reluctantly. "I'll run ahead, you three give me a couple minutes' then follow along." Not waiting for a reply, the blond duellist swept out of the room.

XXxXX

"Jack, sweetling, what the hell are you wearing?" Jack had barely opened his mouth when he was pulled into the kitchen. "Never mind for now, sit down and tell me what you need." The black-haired man barely gave him time to breath as he whirled around the kitchen, pulling out containers out of tucked-away presses.

Taking a deep breath, the blond began, "A friend of mine is hurt. The doctors around here are shit, and crooks besides, and-

"Get him in here, we can set him up on the third floor, if he can get that far, yes? Good. It's not his legs then. Are we talking broken bones or gaping holes were there shouldn't be? Bruising, definitely, looking at you, and a fair amount of scrapes. Have you given him any sort of painkiller? No? Good boy. Now, I'll just need..." Ri trailed off, muttering to himself, and it was all Jack could do to nod or shake his head as required.

Hearing a thump, Jack got up to answer the door, and grabbed one of Crow's arms as he did so.

"Bit out of the way, isn't it" the redhead tried to joke, but it fell flat as Yusei followed him in, and Kalin glanced around suspiciously.

"Where's this healer of yours?" the bluenette frowned.

"Third floor, and he's not my Healer." Jack snapped back. They were all tired and on edge, and the only one not snapping was Yusei, but only because he was so used to tuning out their arguments.

"Oh, get up here already, sweetling. There's only so long I'll let you talk before I decide you have imaginary friends and a talent for voice acting" Ri's light voice broke up the impending argument, and the gang quickly set about getting their friend up the stairs.

Ri received the same reaction from his teammates as Jack's had been. They stopped and stared at the slender young-looking man, before a groan from Crow brought them back to earth.

"My my, you are in a state, aren't you. Still, it's not nearly as bad as it could have been. Come on now, get him to the bed." Ri conducted the confused group easily, and wasted no time in tending the their injured companion.

"You know where everything is, Jack, go and get something to eat. Mind you, if you touch my coffee I'll rip your spine out through your ear and feed it to you," Ri's tone remained soft even as he issued the threat. Jack, used to the odd comments by now, merely steered Yusei and Kalin back down to the kitchen.

Seating the two at the table, Jack set about making up three cups of instant ramen that had started appearing in the kitchen not long after he'd started working there. There was silence as the odd kettle boiled, then-

"Is he-"Kalin began, only to be cut off by Jack's snort.

"Completely bat shit insane. Possibly bipolar. Maybe the weirdest guy in existence. Yeah. But he's a genius, and he takes no shit.

"Will he be able to fix Crow?" Yusei broke in, accepting the cup Jack passed to him.

"Definitely. We probably don't want to know how. Gods know I don't. But he'll do it. If nothing else then because it will let him smile and give cute nicknames to more people. "

"There's a spare bed and a couple of couches up here when you're ready, sweetling. Oh, and could you lock the front door before you head up? It's going to rain something awful in an hour or so..." Ri's voice drifted down to the kitchen

Dragging himself up, the blond went to the door. "I'm taking the bed."

XXxXX

Yusei woke slowly. That in itself was unusual. He felt oddly comfortable and rested. There was something in the back of his mind, prodding him, trying to tell him something, but it slipped away like water when he reached for it. Oh well, if it was important, one of the others would tell him...

The brunette shot up, eyes snapping open. The others, the duel, Crow, Jack's healer... He twisted his head, looking, then calmed himself, and actually took stock of everything. He felt fine, great even and his friends-

-were, with the exception of Jack, all passed out around him. Crow was curled up on a single bed under a surprisingly large window. Kalin was stretched out on a worn couch pushed against the opposite wall to Yusei, breathing deeply. The other single bed, which was horizontal to Crow's was empty and unmade, but the raven-haired duellist couldn't find it in himself to worry.

Deciding to find his missing teammate and their host, he rose and, upon leaving the room, decided that following the strong smell of fresh coffee was his best bet.

"-really, sweetling, tell me who on this earth or under it told you that brown and black was a good combination, so I can beat them over the head with a paint set." A sweet voice greeted him. He glanced around to see Jack at the table, clinging to a rather large mug with a snake on it.

"-must have been _colour blind, _but, then what's your excuse? Oh, hello darling, tea or coffee?"

Yusei started as he suddenly found himself the focus of deep green eyes. He blanked completely.

Ri, sighed, and ushered him to a seat beside Jack. "Tea. There's fruit and bread if you want it. _No, _Jack, you are not having ramen first thing in the morning."

Jack frowned sulkily, though Yusei knew he would deny it, and slumped back into his chair.

A bright yellow cup was set in front of him. "You seem like a H, although there does seem to be a strong red streak in you," the other brunette hummed, settling down across from the duellist pair.

There was silence as the three sipped their drinks.

XXxXX

Yeah... can't actually remember where this one was going. I can remember being given out to for wearing brown and black though, so I think that's why that's in there.

Let me known what you think, though, 'cause there may be a few more half-scenes related to this around (i.e. in the same folder, under the same name)


	2. Chapter 2

Yeah, possibly the last time I set out to deliberately try and write humour. Can't think of what to do next, but I'd love to see it finished. Not actually a crossover (yet). Ah well.

Possible inaccuracies all over the place. Because I couldn't be bothered to go and check.

WTF

Yusei and the gang find the lair of the dark signers in the post-battle clear up. It's not quite what they expected...

'Who put cream cheese all over my duel disk?'

'Um...guys, Why is Kalin tied upside-down swinging from the ceiling?'

'Don't worry about it honey, I'll explain later.'

'But he won't stop laughing. I think he's going to choke...'

'ROMAN'S A DICK'

'KALIN PUT THE FUCKING SCREWDRIVER DOWN!'

'Learn to spell dipshit.'

'Hey Kalin, will you teach me to ride my duel runner?'

'Kalin?'

'Kalin?'

XXxXX

It was the aftermath of the debacle with the Dark Signers. Official looking people in suits had come over from New Domino City and talked together in hushed, serious voices, before calling in other official looking people with measuring equipment, before they all talked together again. In the rest of Satellite people were getting on with their lives. The destruction of buildings and roads was easily worked around, the town hadn't exactly been in mint condition before the duels, but now there was more incentive to rebuild the place and make things better. As bad as the place had been before, many areas of Satellite just weren't that safe to live in structurally anymore.

That was exactly what Yusei, jack and Crow were helping to do. For the moment they were staying with Martha again, with almost daily visits from their friends. Many had not expected the three to stay, especially Jack, but there was an underlying sense of duty and guilt that pushed them to help out their old home.

The three duellists weren't alone in this, however, and many members of Sector Security could be seen working alongside ordinary citizens, all overseen by the watchful eye of one Officer Trudge. The cleanup had been organised zone by zone, beginning with a walkthrough and exploration of the area, which had to be done before any real work could be begun.

Today was one of those days. Akiza, the twins, Carly and Mina had flown over earlier, and had met up with Yusei, Crow and Jack at Martha's. It hadn't been long before Trudge had joined them, claiming to want to ask them to help survey one of the outer areas.

The group had been walking around for about an hour when they found it. Well, not really 'found' it. Jack and Crow had just started bickering; no one was quite sure what over when, turning sharply, mouth open, Jack had disappeared.

Crow stared, mouth hanging open. It wasn't until Carly looked around, wondering why Jack hadn't said anything, that the rest of the gang noticed the blond was gone.

"Jack? Where are you? Jack? JACK?"

Well, squealing that high pitched would alert anybody.

"What's wrong?"

"Where did he go?"

"Jack?"

"Quiet!" Yusei sighed, taking control. "Alright Crow, what's happened?"

The red head turn wide eyes on Yusei. "I don't know! He was right there, being an asshole one second and the next he's gone!"

Any more comments and questions were interrupted by faint swearing. Heads snapped around, looking frantically for the missing blond.

"Jack? Where are you?"

There was a short pause as everyone hushed, then:

"I'm down here, morons. Use your blasted eyes."

Trudge scowled as everyone rushed to the now-visible hole in the ground. Just when he'd gotten Mina _away _from that...

XXxXX

Getting Jack out of the hole in the ground was apparently not going to happen. Although the blond had assured them (bitched) that he was fine, he was also tall, and wore a ridiculously flared coat that, quite apart from being a stupid thing to when exploring what amounted to a bombsite (it was _white_ for God's sake, but would he take it off?) tended to get caught on things at the worst possible times...

So it was soon decided that if Jack wasn't coming up, then the rest of them would just have to go down. This was more a case of Leo getting excited and tripping so that he fell into the gap more than actually making a decision, but that didn't really matter now did it?

Yusei was the next to go down through the gap in the ground, soon followed by Crow, who was grumbling about attention seeking idiots. No one thought to question how they were all fitting in the tiny space as Akiza made to slither down. At least, they didn't until the ground started sinking. Before anyone could make a sound the wine-haired girl had hit the ground, and it gave way beneath them.

It was dark. That was the first thing Yusei noticed. The second thing was that Jack's (it had to be Jack, it was fucking _pointy_) knee was digging into his kidneys, and that Leo was sitting on his head. He groaned, but it was muffled beneath the press of bodies that he had somehow managed to get to the bottom of.

"Oh sorry!" There were scrambling noises, groaning and cursing, before Yusei found himself free. It was still dark, but at least he could breathe now.

"Where are we?" Leo wondered from somewhere to his left.

The brunette duellist sat up slowly, letting his eyes adjust. "Everyone okay?" he wheezed slightly. "Crow, you want to go see if you can talk to Trudge, see if they can get a rope or something?"

"On it Yusei. Sorry about landing on your back, by the way."

"Don't worry about it." It came much more naturally this time, and Yusei climbed to his feet, reaching for the outline of what he thought was a table to steady himself. His eyes had finally adjusted, and he could make out shapes and outlines around them.

"So what now? Are we just going to wait around or are we actually going to do something?" Jack, whose white clothing was turning him into a tall torch, snorted.

"Well it's not like we can get back out the way we came," Crow commented, having just returned. "They've already got a rope set up. Carly and Luna are on their way down, but only because they're the smallest. None of us could get back up, some of that rubble looks really jagged."

"Alright. We'll wait until they get down, then go see if there's another way out." Yusei leaned back against the table. They were in some sort of room, but there didn't seem to be much in it besides them.

"There's a door over here!" Akiza's voice rang from the opposite end of the room. "It's already hanging open; it must have been damaged like the roof."

Any response was interrupted by two thumps and a sudden blinding burst of light.

"Gah! Carly, point that _the other way._"

"Sorry!" The light dimmed as it was swung away. "Trudge gave us a couple of the torches from the Security car. He said he'd try to get the gap secured but he wasn't sure how long it would take."

"Well we'll just have to recue ourselves!" Leo cheered, Luna at his side, apparently satisfied that her brother hadn't hurt himself _too_ much.

"Okay, Akiza, what about that door?" Yusei said as he resigned himself to another mini-adventure. After all, it couldn't be too bad, and there had to be another way out of here. It was just another building, right?

XXxXX

It was the doodles that first tipped them off that this wasn't any ordinary building. Sure, graffiti was fairly normal in Satellite, but this was almost like a running commentary in pictures, and of the weirdest stuff too...

"Guys, these designs are really familiar. Like, we saw them a couple weeks ago, familiar." Crow shifted uneasily. The yellow light of the torches lit the jagged lines and swirls that crept along the walls of the corridor. No one wanted to answer the red head, but it was clear that they all shared the same suspicion. The patterns continued through another doorway, and Yusei lifted his torch to the opposite wall slowly almost hesitantly.

...There was a giant foot descending on a monkey. Right there, in the middle of the wall. Actually, it was surprisingly good, in a cartoonish kind of way...

"Hey, that's my handwriting!"

Everyone swung around to see Carly had split off from the group and was examining a part of the wall to the right.

"This is the Dark Signers hideout!"

Silence.

"Actually, that sort of makes sense, if you ignore the foot." Akiza admitted. She moved to join Carly, and paused.

"What does it say?" Luna asked, curiosity overriding her slight fear of the building their past enemies had inhabited.

"'#Where's the hot sauce#?'"

"...Hot Sauce?" Jack broke the awkward silence this time.

"That...does not seem to be the weirdest thing on here..." Akiza straighten, taking Carly's torch as she did. Slowly she swung it so the beam of light passed over the every cinch of the room.

It looked like a bored, demented school kid's notebook. The room, more of a hall, was covered in scrawls, scribbles and doodles. There were a few sheets of paper scattered around the place, and even the long table hadn't been spared. Right at the centre of the table was...

'HERE'S KALIN!' next to a carved chibi with its tongue sticking out and pulling its right eyelid down. There was a tiny bird scratched next to it, and what appeared to be a squashed spider beneath him.

"Well, at least we got the place right."

Yusei couldn't help but stare at the chibi. It was definitely Kalin, even without the deeply carved name to the side. Surely the Dark Signers hadn't been like this? Had his old friend really been this crazy?

"Looks like the Dark Signers weren't as gelled together as we thought." Akiza snorted.

They followed her line of light to-

'_Kalin I'm going to fucking KILL you'_. Beneath it, written in what they were coming to recognise as the former leader of Team Satisfaction's hand, was-

'Already dead asshole'

"Ok we are definitely staying here." Yusei couldn't help but agree. They all moved further into the room, heading in different directions, before Crow's sudden shout of laughter.

"Hey Yusei, looks like Kalin wasn't exactly always against you man!"

Yusei felt a spike of hope. While he knew Kalin was back to his old self, it still hurt that the other man had ever hated him. It was part of the reason the three former members of Team Satisfaction felt so obliged to help out around Satellite. It had been their town, with Kalin.

Jack stiffened from his place beside Yusei as they reached their red-head friend. Yusei nudged Crow to the side, and blinked at what he saw.

FORTUNE CUP FINALS

**Go Jack! **

Go Yusei!

**Dude, seriously? Jack is so much cooler.**

Nah, not really. 

**Why?**

Well...

**No, really, why?**

No offense man, but Jack's kind of a dick.

**What?**

Yeah, I mean look at all the shit he pulls, and the crap that comes out of his mouth. I mean really 'Master of Faster'? Come on.

**Well...**

Come on man, if that doesn't say 'dick and proud' I don't know what does.

**I suppose...**

Yeah. So anyway- Go Yusei!

**Yeah! Go Yusei!**

"That little- why the hell was he our friend again?" Jack raged from the side as the others crowded in to get a look.

"How did they even know about the fortune cup?"Luna wondered, giggling. "I mean it was a while before any of this, right?"

No one answered her, too busy sniggering. Jack stalked off to the other side of the room, still muttering angrily to himself.

"Oh come on Jack, it was probably just a joke." Carly followed after the blond. "Here, lets read something else."

The brunette girl grabbed Jack's hand, still clutching his own torch, and brought it up

_**THINGS KALIN IS NOT ALOWED TO DO IN/AROUND THE BASE/ **__**AT ALL**_

"Wow..."

**Kalin, stop cackling. It really does freak everyone out.**

_No Kalin, you can not have a kitten. You'd kill it._

_Stop drawing on the damn walls!_

This was accompanied by a hasty doodle of a deformed monkey being sat on by a giant. Yusei and Crow, having wandered over with the rest of the group, were beginning to work out how their insane friend's mind had worked under the influence of the Immortals...

{_Stop it with the cream cheese and ketchup. Please. Duel Disks are not meant to bleed.}_

"The hell...?" Crow was beginning to look a little freaked out.

**Leave the New Girl alone Kalin. I don't care if she's been paired up against Atlas, she does not need to know that he cried in his sleep!**

'No Kalin! Tell Me!

Sorry New Girl, but hey, you wanna here the Lizard/noodle story?

"The fuck? He swore he'd never tell that to anyone!"

Kalin, no. You cannot have minions. Leave it to the spider guy.

Stop calling me spider guy. Damnit Kalin! Stop infecting everyone with your crazy!

**You want to make that a rule, spider guy? I think it'll have just as much impact as the rest of them.**

Mwahahahahahah

{_Oh netherking, he's managed to put the cackle into writing}_

That's just how awesome I am

XXxXX

Sometimes I wonder about myself...


	3. Chapter 3

Aversion Therapy

Little bit of Harry smacking the emo out of Kalin, although that only comes in about halfway through.

XXxXX

Reality Bites

The sky was dark, and the stars shone bright over Harry's head. He wasn't really focused on them though. It had been a while since he had really focused on anything, and stars, though pretty, weren't likely to cause problems, not like people did. His magic hummed lowly around the brunette wizard, light, relaxed, but still active and twined around her master, waiting for his call. No matter how long he slept, Harry's magic would always be sharp and waiting, never as deeply asleep as he.

There was then a steady _thud_ echoing in his dreams that was completely out of place, Harry mused as he sat by the lake, watching stars. Really, he had no reason to be dreaming of thuds, and he _was _dreaming, because it had been a long, long time since he hadn't been and he'd know if he was awake. He'd be staring at the inside of a coffin, for one. Quite a fancy coffin, granted, but still a rather claustrophobic little box.

The world was shaking now, and the _thuds _were getting steadily louder. Harry frowned as the stars and the lake began to disintegrate. He'd been enjoying this dream. It was peaceful. Still, no matter how peaceful, loud crashes and being flung around like a rag doll would bring any dream to an end. It would also piss anyone off, and so it was understandable that Harry, who had never been a morning person, was in a foul mood and ready to come up cursing when he woke for the first time in about who knows how many years.

He was not expecting to be met with muffled shouting and darkness and a low, hollow cold that lived in deep caves everywhere though.

_Shit_, the wizard thought as his spell-light revealed nothing but rock. _Just how long have I been out?_

_XXxXX_

A long time, Harry found out as he eavesdropped on the remaining miners, hidden by his Invisibility Cloak-turned Coat and copious use of silencing spells. The wizard was fairly sure that this had been a magical, if not Wizarding, area when he'd gone to sleep. The place had reeked of raw, natural magic then; it had been why he'd picked it in the first place. Now, although there was magic, it was changed, faded and almost warped, as though it had been bound to something far from its original form but still recognisable as the base.

And there were people. Yet another reason Harry had chosen this place, which had most certainly _not _been a mountain last he'd seen it, was the utter lack of irritating cretins that made up the human race. Now the place was practically flooded, although the wizard did take the time to notice that most did not seem to be there willingly, if the collars and jumpsuits were to go by. Maybe this was some form of prison. The quiet desperate depression that hung in the stale air certainly suggested so.

After being thoroughly confused listening to the people going on about monsters and duelling and other people (the first two were odd, did people harness monsters to do their fighting now? How...boring) Harry gave up and slipped around the miners (prisoners?) easily. He strolled soundlessly up the tunnel, musing on how lax security seemed to be around here (not prison then, or maybe it was, and these people were just shit at escaping). Finally reaching the exit, he inhaled, wanting to taste life and magic in the air for the first time in centuries, and froze. There was nothing. No life, no peace, and what little magic there was here was barely clinging on. Harry opened his eyes and stared at the desert stretched out before him.

_What the hell have you done to my planet?_

_XXxXX_

It took days to reach the nearest town. Three days of wandering, with only magic to point him in the right direction, and the changed landscape making him not trust apparition. Though Harry's magic had been eager, practically crackling, to be out and used after so many decades of rest, Harry still needed food and water, and hadn't quite gotten over the shock of a nearly lifeless desert and being woken up so suddenly.

So it was a very bitchy wizard that staggered into town. Gods but he hated sand. It got fucking _everywhere._ He just wanted to find some food and a bed. Maybe a bath too, there was only so much cleaning and freshening charms could do, especially since he'd never been very good at them. Instead he was met by a pair of thugs that clearly had no survival instincts and thus shouldn't have been let out into a sand box, let alone a desert, without supervision.

"Fuck off, I'm not in the mood," Harry bit out before any of them could get a word out.

The leading man, a stocky guy who was already losing his hair, swelled with anger. He opened his mouth, but Harry cut him off.

"No. I _do not care_ if there is a toll or some kind of challenge that you want me to pass. I just spent three days stumbling through that imitation Hell you've decided to set up in without food or water. I'm tired, I need a bath, and if I don't get something to eat I may just resort to cannibalism. Now, if you want to do this again tomorrow, I may be a bit more accommodating, but for now, I repeat, _fuck off."_

"You can't do that!" the first guy spluttered, going red. "This here is Radley territory! You can't just swan in here and get away with-

"What he means is that this is our land. You wanna stay, you gotta duel."One of the others, wiry, but not as twitchy as the first, sneered. They all screamed low level thug. Harry could feel what little patience he had left evaporating.

"Ah, no. I'm going to sleep. On a bed. In this town, because it's the only one around for miles. I'm tired. And, for the record, what you call duelling and what I call duelling are so completely different it's not even funny. I'd probably just kill you. I might just anyway."

Harry, for the record, was not very diplomatic at the best of times. He could just about manage it when he needed to, but immortality and a magical core the size of Mexico pre-last battle had kind of shot the need for it. When he was tired though, he tended to slip straight to violence. The little part of his mind that was somewhat detached from the rest, to part that tended to make sarcastic comments while the rest was busy actually doing something, was kind of impressed that he was giving any warning at all.

They all seemed to take this the wrong way. "Oh that's it, bastard. You'll be shipped off to the mountain before you can scream! Dra-" Before the first man could reach for what looked like a gun he was airborne. He crashed to the ground just as the third, silent thug received a fist to the gut and he doubled over.

The wiry man, so far untouched, jerked violently as he was pinned by bright green eyes. White teeth flashed in a parody of a grin. Harry couldn't help himself then.

"Go ahead punk, make my day." He was running before Harry dropped the last word.

Harry straightened and allowed his grin to fade into an easy, more natural looking smile. Catching sight of wide eyes staring at him from a doorway, he raised his hand. "Evening, miss. You wouldn't know where a traveller could get a meal and a bed around here, would you?"

She squeaked and vanished back inside. All Harry could do was blink and shrug. Maybe getting into a fight a few minutes after getting into town wasn't his brightest idea.

XXxXX

Harry had, after much coaxing and his best, most charming smile, managed to wrangle a room and dinner at the local hostel/inn/bar-type place. It hadn't been too hard to find, but he'd been stared at from the second he'd walked in. Years of practice made it easy to ignore, but he'd still wolfed down his sparse meal and dragged himself to his room as fast as he could. The room itself was nothing special, all cracked, unvarnished wood, and was fairly small, but there was a mattress and, no matter how lumpy, that was all Harry was really looking for. It had been gods only knew how long since he'd slept in anything other than a coffin. Lying back, the wizard snorted. The first time he wakes up, and all he wanted to do was sleep. Gods, he sounded like a teenager.

Just before closing his eyes, Harry wondered how much schmoozing it would take to get decent info on this world without looking crazy.

XXxXX

Harry snapped awake just as the sun streamed through cracked shutters. He lay there completely disoriented, for a moment forgetting where he was and what he was doing there. It took a few minutes for the events and revelations of the past few days to sink in. Harry shut his eyes tightly when he was a little more with it. He was awake now, in a strange society, but all he could do was live with it. The question was how to do so without looking like a lunatic or being arrested.

Half an hour later Harry strolled down the stairs to the saloon. Seeing it mostly empty except for two men bent over a table and one young woman at the bar, Harry fixed on his most friendly smile and headed over to the woman.

"Morning, miss. Seems like a lovely day." Manners got you everywhere, even here.

"Good morning sir. Yes, it does seem nice. Not as hot as yesterday." She smiled at him. It was small, tentative, but it was a start.

They chatted mindlessly about the weather for a while, until the subject of duelling finally arose, and the reason the woman was so much more relaxed around him became clear.

"But the duel last night was something shocking. Six turns, and another of the Radley Bunch sent off to the mountain! I don't think anyone's seen anything so quick!" The woman, girl really, she didn't look more than eighteen, exclaimed.

Harry shot her a blank look and she blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry, of course you weren't there, and being new and all... Well, everyone figured you were a hired deck."

Harry nearly choked before his mind sorted out the words from the accent, and didn't bother hiding his confusion as he cut in, "Forgive me miss, but I walked in here yesterday with no idea of where I was. I've no idea what you mean." Please, _please_ don't mean...

"Oh of course you don't, I'm sorry. Mining at the mountain is controlled by two gangs, under Radley and Malcom. They get labour by duelling at sunset, loser gets sent off to the mines. The gangs sometimes hire in duellist so they have a better chance at winning. Most people that come through here come looking to make money from these duels. After the scuffle you had with some of Radley's boys yesterday we all figured Malcom brought you in, but then you slept through sunset, so..." She trailed off with a small smile that was happy and worried at the same time.

"Well now," Harry grinned at her, still confused but with more knowledge than he'd started with. "Truth told I'm not much of a dueller. I don't mind watching when I've got the time though." True, he'd never been one for the official rules of duelling. He'd always been better at melee and open warfare. It was so much easier to cheat.

The girl looked a bit more worried at that. "You might have some trouble then, as Radley's not gonna like what you did to his boys. Malcom's not gonna have reason to take you on either."

"Don't worry about me. It's nothing I can't handle." Really, gang warfare had nothing on mage wars. "Now, I don't suppose you could direct me to a decent bath?"

XXxXX

The inevitable clash was quick and bloody. Harry had lost all hesitance when it came to violence at pretty much the same time he turned sixteen, and he wasn't about to suddenly lose years worth of training and instinct over a few half-baked idiots looking to pick a fight. He was practically dancing as he meted out violence with a ruthless efficiency that had earned him the fear of the Dark.

His magic sang around him, but beneath it an endless sense of _cold _whispered and pressed, wishing to be just as free. Harry restrained his death instinct, and kept his attacks mild, the injuries superficial. It wouldn't do to be run out of the town for murder, now would it? The whispers were ignored, and the once-wizard kept to his own primary magic.

It was a more relaxed Harry that strolled back into the town centre at dusk. His quite humming was soon interrupted by the roar of engines however, and the brunette mage turned away from the setting sun, facing the approaching gang. Harry's smile didn't fade nor did he remove his hands from his pockets as the group came to a stop.

The leading man practically threw himself off his bike and wrenched off his helmet.

"What the hell is this supposed to be? Radley send you out? He too scared to come out and fight?" Rage and suspicion was evident, and the weedy looking man was almost hopping around.

"Radley has found himself... indisposed. I believe he's decided to take a long holiday. Not a bad idea really." Green eyes gleamed as the sky streaked red. The gang leader took no notice though.

"He baled? That bastard! Thinks he can run away? This here is a duel town." Harry watched with mild interest as the man before him turned a shade of purple he hadn't seen since Vernon Dursley choked to death. The ranting continued for another ten minutes, enough time for a sizable crowd to gather, and Harry took note of a cart pulling up out of the corner of his eye.

"Um, boss-" an idiot from the back was shoved forward, and cringed as he interrupted the slew of threats. "What we gonna do? There's still that guy..."

The rat-like leader's attention was forced back to 'that guy' standing casually in front of him. Harry raised an eyebrow, not bothering to hide his amusement. The other man didn't seem to see the funny side of the situation though, and if anything he just grew angrier.

"Well if the bastard won't show himself then we'll just have to use you. Don't think we'll bother with duellin' it out though, since him not comin' 's'a forfeit!" There was a tone of vindictive smugness.

"'Use me'? Ah, you mean the mountain. No. No, I don't think so. I just woke up. So much to catch up on. So why don't you lot just run off back to your hole, maybe take a holiday too. Might do you some good. This place doesn't seem to be doing your blood pressure any favours."

"Ye think you can just turn up, talk like that an' walk away? You little shit, you don't got a choice"

"There's always a choice."

Hmm. He'd never tangled with a biker gang before. Should be fun.

"Besides, who said I was walking away?"

XXxXX

"You don't understand. You _can't _understand. I hurt people. I did some terrible things, unforgivable things. Now all I can look for is punishment. I deserve it. So please, what is there for me to do but keep going?" Yellow-gold eyes shone with desperation as they stared at the ground, still standing in the middle of the trail.

"Move."

That single snorted word snapped Kalin's attention back to the young-looking man before him.

"Look," Green eyes held no disgust, no fear or condemnation, just exasperation. "Get busy living or get busy dying, but get the fuck out of the way whatever you do. This thing is bloody heavy, and I've got to drop off a few things around town."

Kalin stared, stunned, until a raised eyebrow had him jumping to the side.

"Good boy. There's a decent inn in the middle of town. Place smells a bit of alcohol and sweat, but then everything does around here. And don't you dare kill yourself around here, I just finished clearing up the last gang."

With that Harry hefted the bundle of metal rods back onto his shoulder and walked past the white-haired man. Kalin hesitated, still completely blindsided by the other man's reaction. He had expected suspicion, hostility, maybe even disgust and hatred, but that man... He hadn't seemed to care at all.

The sun was setting, and the heat of the day was just starting to fade away.

Well... it wasn't like he was getting anywhere else that night.

XXxXX

"So you turned up then. At least you're not completely hopeless." Ah familiar voice came from behind the white-haired duellist, although it took him a second to place.

"Oh Harry, leave the guy alone! He's not been here one day yet. At least give him time to settle in before you send him running for the hills." The bar maid was smiling as the brunette from the night before slid onto the stool to Kalin's right.

"But Marie, if he's going to stay here then he's got to be able to handle a little torture right? What's a little teasing between soon-to-be friends?"

Marie just laughed before moving to serve another customer, and stopped to chat, leaving the two men alone.

"Soon-to-be-friends?" Kalin broke the silence between them, as the other seemed content to just let it go on.

"You stand in the middle of the road, make melodramatic mini-speeches about deserving punishment and past crimes, and yet you haven't offed yourself yet, instead coming to a town where you think you'll be able to duel, but always with the barest hint of danger. Face it, you're not here for redemption or whatever. You're an adrenaline junkie running away from something. What, I don't really care." All this was said in a relaxed, casual tone, as if they were discussing the weather. Harry hadn't even bothered to look up from his drink.

It took Kalin a moment to realise that he was shaking. "How...?"

"You think you're alone in the world? Everyone makes mistakes, Kalin. Some have a bigger impact than others, yeah. All you're doing now though is running away. I can tell right off that cowardice doesn't suit you. You look more like a 'hit it head on' kinda guy. So, in the spirit of past mentors, I'm going to drag you out of whiney-bitchdom. Because I spent about a year like that once, before anyone bothered to drag me out. Call it karma. 'Sides, I wanna see what it's like to be the guy holding the crowbar."

"You're insane." The words slipped out before Kalin even realised, but the words were slowly sinking into his mind. They still didn't make a whole lot of sense, but it seemed like this man, this unnaturally pale, willowy man, was offering...What? Help?

"Quite probably. And I'm offering nothing, Ghost. I need to channel my 'saving-people' thing somewhere. Congratulations, you just happen to be my next rescue-ee." Harry had finally turned to look at him, and Kalin found himself confronted with gleaming green eyes and a light-hearted grin.

Kalin opened his mouth, intending to refuse, wanting to, except he didn't want to. Those eyes chased whatever resistance out of his mind, and all arguments died on his lips.

"I...Alright," He said eventually.

Harry's grin suddenly turned predatory. "Excellent."

Kalin couldn't suppress a shiver, as a feeling of doom settled over him.

XXxXX

His arms trembled, muscles screaming as the rock was held aloft. Oddly enough, this all faded into the background roaring in his ears.

"_It's not so much about living as it is not dying, really. S'the difference between those poor bastards that plan each second and those that just let it go. What's there to live for if the routine will kill you?"_

There was a strange burning behind his eyes as they focused on something only he could see. How long had he been standing here? It felt like hours.

"_You want to atone? Ok, we can do that. Punish those that deserve it, and all that. We'll have to do it properly, though."_

Gods, but this was almost worse than having to wade through that rancid water all day, or having to pin down that line on the side of the mountain. If he just knew _why-_

"Think that's enough then?" A voice echoed from his left. Kalin felt that his shaking limbs more than spoke for themselves, though, and couldn't answer, too focused on not collapsing.

"Alright, let it drop."

Kalin nearly sobbed as the rock fell from above his head and he staggered back. He collided with a firm body, and only the hand on his shoulder stopped him from falling.

"Easy. Sit down for a bit and stretch your arms, or they'll cramp up awfully. Well, they'll do that anyway, but it'll be worse if you don't."

Kalin slid to the ground and did as he was told. After a few seconds Harry crouched down beside him and, taking one of the outstretched arms, began to massage it lightly.

"So, you hated my interpretation of the three agonies, then?"

"What?"

"What? Oh, right, middle of nowhere. Don't know how I keep forgetting. Do you feel punished enough?"

Kalin tilted his head and stared at the raven-haired man. Harry wasn't looking at him, focusing instead on the arm stilled held in his grasp.

"That was for the town. It needed doing. It was hard, but not-"

"Don't be thick, little ghost, it doesn't suit you. Why the hell would holding up a rock for ages be useful? Maybe if you wanted to build upper body strength in a completely stupid way, but for the town? They need rocks like idiots need guns."

Butterscotch eyes were blown wide, and he gaped at the former wizard, before choking. "But- you-"

"Shut up a sec and listen to a story then. One of the ancient societies was really big on stories of their hell. Actually, most societies are, so ignore that bit. Anyway, three 'sinners', three punishments, the Three Agonies. A guy is pinned to a rock on the side of a mountain and has his liver pecked out and regrown every day. Another stands up to his neck in a pond but every time he goes to drink the water drains away. Another pushes a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back, and he must do so forever. Sound familiar?"

"You were punishing me."

"You told me to, little ghost. You practically begged me to. You wanted to atone for past wrongdoings, past _mistakes_. Having you help around town wasn't going to cut it, not when you kept believing that you needed to suffer. So now you've suffered. You've had your own personal Hell adapted just for you. So do you feel you've suffered enough?"

Silence followed Harry's question, and he returned to rubbing Kalin's arms methodically. Kalin, meanwhile, stared into space, turning everything said over in his mind. Had he suffered enough? He was so tired of feeling guilty...

"Kalin." The man addressed started as he found his arms hanging limply and his companion standing above him. "You don't have to let it go completely. Just, ease up a little."

"The thing about penance and redemption is that it's not so much about being forgiven as it is about forgiving yourself."

XXxXX

"I was broken, Yusei. There's no way I could ever make up for- ack!" Kalin pitched forward, planting face first into the ground.

"I didn't even-!" he cried out, albeit muffled.

"Don't care," came the nonchalant voice of the slender figure that stood behind him. "Five laps. Now."

Yusei stared as his old friend climbed to his feet and started running. He then turned and met amused green eyes.

"Aversion therapy," came the light explanation. "Seems to be working."

XXxXX

Yusei saw something flash through his friend's eyes as Harry walked past and Kalin climbed to his feet, again. He opened his mouth to ask why Kalin was allowing this to happen to himself when he noticed the other man's attention was elsewhere. Following the golden gaze, Yusei's eyes landed on Harry's retreating back. Or rather, something a little lower... Something clicked, and his eyes widened.

"You're doing this on purpose!" he exclaimed incredulously.

Kalin glanced down with a hint of guilt. "Maybe just a little."

XXxXX

The two bits at the end come a fair bit after the rest, but I couldn't think of much to go in between. Maybe another time.

The idea has been knocking about for a bit, but I'm having a bit of trouble dragging it together. So for now you get snippet view while I beg for ideas for more scenes.

All are welcome, so review and let me know what you think 8D

Edt. : emails not coming through from ff, and hits and all aren't showing up on traffic either, so if you alert/fav/review and I don't get it, know that I love you anyway and will scream at and threaten my laptop until it's fixed and coughs out everything.


	4. Chapter 4

Not mine.

Not edited, either. Ah well.

The Stars as My Witness

Jack and Crow were arguing again.

By this point everyone was used to it, and had learned to tune the pair out. Sometimes, when they got particularly loud, Yusei would take the initiative and either intervene (and fail) or, if he was busy, get straight to kicking them out. There was no point in even trying to get them to stop anymore. Friendship speeches didn't work, bribery didn't work, and threats barely gave them pause. If everyone didn't know Jack and Crow had been friends years ago, they would have sworn there was a blood feud between the two.

Still, the arguments were dull and stupid. Unfortunately, they were also achingly familiar to the resident wizard.

Harry had been living with Yusei, Crow and Jack for a while now (he wasn't exactly sure how long), and had initially surprised the trio with his unquestioning acceptance of their quirks and odd habits. In the beginning he'd just tidied up their apartment and lived in a tiny room off the main garage, but it wasn't long before he'd taken over running the apartment completely. That may have been because none of the other three duellist could really cook, and all of them tended to get distracted by their runners and decks. In the end it was just easier to let the brunette wizard take the reins of the household, and didn't that just lead to a whole host of comments and jokes about housewives and the like. Harry let them go for the most part, but got his revenge in other, more subtle ways when the others least expected it. Harry might have looked fragile, but he could be downright malevolent when he wanted to be.

Harry winced as the shouting rose in volume, the words _ignorant _and _idiot _clear to all. Normally the fighting didn't bother him at all. Normally, he would have rolled his eyes and tuned out the screeching before making something carrot-based for dinner (Jack hated carrots. Crow tended to take it as an insult). Normally it wasn't the anniversary of his best friends' wedding, and the pair inside weren't forcefully reminding him of the legendary arguments that had been the source of much amusement and betting among his housemates.

Normally Harry tried not to think about his old life too much. Sure, he still had his magic, and the emergency stash split between his moleskin pouch-turned locket and an enchanted earring, both remnants of a paranoia born of spending over a year on the run. The once-Saviour knew that he'd been declared dead back in the Wizarding World, he'd been shoved through the Veil after all. No one was looking for him, and a close encounter with a certain salamander on steroids had made it very clear that he wasn't going anywhere. He was trapped in this strange, advanced world. And, for the most part, Harry had accepted that. He wasn't exactly happy about it, but war and politics had tempered him some. Harsh truths had been hammered home in the years after Sirius' death, and Harry had adapted, as he always had. This was just one more of those situations.

He'd been lucky, in a way, to find such an accepting (in a weird way) group of people as Yusei and his friends. Sure, he spent a lot of time dodging questions about duelling and monsters and the like, but they were still some of the most accepting (again, in a weird way) group of people he'd ever known, random pep talks, debates over cards, and the odd invasion of turquoise midgets aside.

Still, as a crash echoed from inside the building, Harry couldn't help but feel a stab of nostalgic depression as his mind filled with images of frizzy brown hair and bright red ears. Sure, Jack was more like Malfoy the younger sometimes than Hermione, and Crow definitely had more cop on than Ron ever had, but Harry still had to fight the urge to shove them in a closet and leave them, even with Crow's claims of straightness.

Realistically Harry knew there was nothing he could do about the pair without getting kicked out. The wizard was all for threatening the runners and holding cards hostage, but instinct told him rather forcefully that all his ideas would be met with horror and/or violence. While Harry's methods would definitely get results, and the reactions wouldn't normally bother him, his hard-won common sense screamed at him that threatening things so obviously held as sacred by his dear (obsessed) flatmates would only land him in back out on the streets. Despite living with the trio for around five months, Harry couldn't seem to shake the feeling that he was always living on thin ice.

The door slammed open with much swearing, and Harry heard two sets of footsteps scrambling out into the air. Yusei had clearly reached his limit for the night. Harry straightened up and without looking at the still-glaring pair, stated, "I'm not cleaning that up."

With that, the brunette wizard strolled off around the corner and out of sight. There was this little all-night kiosk-y place around there somewhere, and Harry was fairly sure that 2/3s of his idiot employers had started fighting over which one had drunk the last of the juice...

It was properly dark when Harry got back to the flat, juice in hand. From the look of things everyone was already asleep, with only a couple of the dimmer lights left on. Crow's headband was lying on top of his Blackbird, and there were still tools scattered around Yusei's Runner, although Jack's was untouched, and practically gave off its own light as it gleamed. Harry snorted softly as he padded upstairs to put away his goods and, not feeling the least bit tired, decided to prep tomorrow's food while he was there. While Harry didn't get most of the technical terms his flatmates used, casual eavesdropping meant that he could usually work out whatever plans they had. From the rather talkative mood Yusei had been in the brunette wizard gathered that the group would be out testing the new engines tomorrow. Meaning they'd need-

"Ramen for Blondie, pastry based anything for Robin-red, and Firecrab gets normal people food because he eats like a normal person, but let's give him cherries too because he rocks. Also snackie crap for midgets and chocolate for Flower-girl. Tag-alongs get vegetables."

Harry still wasn't exactly happy with Sector Security officer Trudge after the man had tried to arrest him when they'd first met. Ok, it was nice that he cared enough to ward off crazed stalkers from his friends, but the shopping bags filled with food and cleaning supplies and the fact that he owned a key to the building really should have tipped the other man off. Hearing about how the man had treated Yusei in the beginning hadn't endeared him to the wizard any either. Combined with Harry's less-than-stellar experiences with law enforcement back home, and it was only his flatmates' acceptance of Trudge that made Harry deal with him. Hence the man still rated as a tag-along in Harry's head, what with him popping up everywhere the gang went. Honestly, you'd swear the guy had nothing better to do...

XXxXX

_It was cold, so very cold, and dark. There was no sound except for a steady drip of water and his own laboured breathing. Two deep cuts ran like lines of fire along his back, but they too were gradually becoming as numb as the rest of him. He had no idea how long he'd been there, hours, days, weeks. The only thing that broke up his time were an insane shrieking laugh, a choked snorting and dark eyes that sparked and shone with pleasure. Always accompanied by pain. Sometimes the eyes came alone, and they were both the best and the worst times._

_It was sick, really, that he almost missed those eyes..._

XXxXX

"Maybe you should take a break, Yusei. You've been up working since dawn." Harry never stopped dusting. He'd been cleaning with a quiet mania since before any of the others had been up, having woken from a dream well before daybreak. No one had noticed, though, and so the brunet mage had just worked around them. He'd just made his way into the garage when he'd spotted Yusei crouched by his duel runner.

"Hmm? Oh, I just need to get this done. Bruno's been running with a new idea" Yusei barely glanced at the other man, and Harry passed him the wrench without a word. While he might know very little about engines and mechanics in general, he'd gotten rather good at predicting Yusei's work habits and next moves concerning his precious Runner.

"That's nice. Take a break anyway. It's not like your Runner won't be here in twenty minutes."

"But-"

"Rest, food, now. I am not above kidnapping your deck for a few minutes. You've just left it lying there on its own, see."

Yusei's hand automatically went to the holder on the back of his belt where he normally kept his deck. He started when his fingers closed on empty air. The brunet duellist rose and spun towards Harry, to find him leaning on the desk by the wall, duster in hand. There, lying innocently by the black-haired man, sat his collection of duel monsters cards.

XXxXX

"Hey."

Had there been anyone watching the dark-haired man they would have believed him to be crazy, standing on top of an abandoned five-storey building in the pale pre-dawn light, talking to thin air.

"Look, I know you have no reason to listen to me, or even acknowledge that I exist. I'm not one of yours. Hell, if anything _I _owe _you_. But please. Just, delay your Chosen, just for a little while? Not even that long, barely an hour. I know you don't want to lose any of your Signers. I don't want you to lose any of them either. That's what I'm trying to prevent. Yusei's going to be all stupidly noble and Gryffindor and I really get what 'Mione meant when she yelled at me for that. I just need a bit more time."

Green eyes turned away from the sky, and flickered in the direction of a compact mass of high rise buildings.

"Too many people need him, and he's preparing to go off and be a bloody martyr. If he goes through with this he's not going to make it through."

A pale fist clenched by the man's side, and he let out a hollow chuckle.

"And I thought my Gryffindor side died years ago." His head raised and he stared at the sky once more. Green eyes sparked and flared with determination and desperation.

"I've got no reason, no right to be here. I don't- I just don't _fit._ I'm not like them, and I'm fairly sure I never could be. I just don't _get it_. But at least I can do this, right? At least I can stop the real hero from having to sacrifice himself, and then he can go on and get the girl and all that shit that never would have worked for me anyway, because as much as they wanted me to be their hero, as much as they pushed and pulled it just _wasn't me_. But it is him, and someone needs to get a happily ever after, right? And that won't happen if he dies.

"So let me do this. Please. Just give me a bit more time."

XXxXX

"Hello."

There were a couple of kids staring at him.

"Hi."

Harry turned back to the rift in the ground and the tall metal spikes at his side.

"It's my birthday today." One of the kids, the girl, had moved closer.

"Happy birthday. Your parents know you're out here?" Harry didn't look up. As long as they didn't get in the way or start screaming, he didn't really mind them hanging around. The brunet wizard had always had a soft spot for kids.

"They told us to go play while they packed up." The kids, a small blonde thing, the girl who'd been speaking, and a boy, a little bigger, yellow-white hair showing his relation to the girl, stood staring at Harry for a little longer. The boy, maybe seven, took a step closer before speaking.

"What are you doing?"

Harry quirked and eyebrow as he glanced at them, "I'm trying to rig a line from the mains up through the weird pointy statue to the side without frying myself."

"What?"

"Something potentially dangerous and probably illegal, but don't worry about it, I've got a containment ward set up around me, so you'll be fine if you stay over there."

"Mommy says people who do illegal things get put in the Facility and get a yellow line on their face, and that we should stay away from them." The girl was frowning now, and clutching a small plastic box to her chest. She didn't look too worried though, and neither did her brother.

"That's only if they get caught, which I'm really hoping won't happen, and not everyone with a yellow line is bad." Harry said, more amused than anything, although he was wondering if this counted as corrupting kids. Maybe he should have left the getting caught part out...

"Like Yusei Fudo!" The boy's excited cry brought the former wizard out of his musing. "He's got a yellow line, and he's an awesome duellist! He beat Jack Atlas."

Harry couldn't stop a short laugh. "That is an excellent example. Yusei Fudo is a good man with a great heart, even if he does have a bit of a one-track mind. Also, I wouldn't bring up Yusei beating Jack so much; Blondie's still a bit sensitive about it."

"Jack Atlas is still really cool. I like his hair." Girl child nodded, as if that explained everything, and Harry smiled at her.

Harry bent back down and reached into the hole in the ground.

"It's dangerous."

"What?" Harry straightened back up and glanced around, looking for the danger.

"You said what you were doing is dangerous. Why are you doing it then?" Girl child was apparently one of those children that lived by curiosity.

"It's an alternative solution."

"What?" Boy child was getting in on the action. There went any hope of him being the quiet one.

Harry hauled himself out of the gap in the ground, and perched on the edge. "Story time, then?" This appeared to be the wrong thing to say, as the kids nodded eagerly and clambered closer. "Stay on the other side of the line!

"Alright, quick story, but you can't tell anyone else, ok? It's a secret." Harry smiled at the pair as they stared up at him, wide eyed an excited.

"There's this guy. He's great, amazing even. But he has a guilt complex and a saving people thing. A little bit of both is ok. It shows that people can be good. But this guy has both in buckets. It means he's a hero.

"Now, heroes are good things too, but only in small doses, and only with enough downtime in between heroics. The problem if you don't get a break from being a hero is that the complexes, the buckets of goodness, stay with you, and they just get bigger. Everyone needs a rest every now and then, right? Heroes especially, because if heroes don't get holidays then there's a pretty big chance they turn into martyrs.

"So this guy, who I'd like to think is my friend, is a hero. The problem is that he hasn't had much of a chance to have a break lately. Things just keep needing saving. A lot of his friends are heroes too, but he's the biggest one, so it's not really the best idea to let them take over. Besides, because he's the lead hero, he'd get all guilty if someone else tried to take the fall, and he'd want to save them.

"So I decided that it was time for him to have a rest. He doesn't know though, or he'd try to stop me and be a hero again. I've had a bit of practice at the hero thing and a bit more practice at the martyr thing, so I'm ok with doing this, but my friend would get all stressed and worried and want to do it for me. It's sweet and all, but it's really not necessary.

"So, now it's my turn. I have to do things a bit differently than he would though. The way he saves people is great and all, and he should be really proud of his skills, like all of his other friends, but it's a bit one track. It seems to be a trap everyone falls into around here. Just because duelling works fine most of the time, doesn't mean it's the only way to get things done.

"You see the giant floaty metal thing above us? Yeah, that's what he's trying to save us from. I haven't seen him in a while, so call it gut instinct, but I know he's going to do something incredibly heroic and utterly stupid, because heroism has its limits, and martyrdom is basically a combination of heroics, stupidity and suicide. He doesn't need that, and it's time someone saved him for a change."

Harry smiled at the entranced children before him, knowing they hadn't understood most of what he'd said, but happy to have had the chance to explain to someone why he was doing this. It was like a weight had been lifted from his chest, and the last nagging whisper that this was a bad idea was silenced.

Harry dropped fully into to fissure. Most of his torso was still above ground, and it was fairly narrow, but it gave him access to a power line, and that was all he needed.

Finally the children stirred, and the girl tilted her head cutely. "But what are you doing? Why like this?"

Harry grinned, "Because nothing says 'I love you' like high-grade explosives." Reaching for one of the metal spikes to the side, he winked at the kids. "Now scram before someone comes looking for you."

XXxXX

In honour of my email and FF sorting itself out, there are more snippets! WOOT!

I kinda wanna continue this one, even if its just 'cause I love the name. Also, the middle bit all in italics may be reappearing in another bit, because I'm not so sure I like it there.


	5. Chapter 5

A snippet from the world of Chapter 1. Completely random, and from what I can remember, written before "Catch it Quick".

XXxXX

How Jack got his coat.

"Jack, what on earth are you wearing?" Ri stared at the blond for a full minute.

Jack frowned. He had been working for the odd creature for about a month now, and this was the first time, he'd worn his team vest. The gang had just finished another duel, and he'd decided to head straight to work, to the surprise of his friends. He had not been expecting this reaction though. Had Ri heard of their duel gang?

"Clothes, Ri, what does it look like, " he snapped back.

The black-haired man recovered " Black and brown Jack. You are wearing _black _and _brown. _Together. Tell me who told you that was a good idea, so that I can go beat the over the head. You look ridiculous."

Jack was thrown. "What? What's wrong with this? It's my team vest!" he answered, forgetting to not mention the team thing in his hast to defend his clothing.

"Jack, sweetling," Ri sighed, "If being cooped up with various females at various times has taught me anything, it is to colour coordinate. Black and brown just do not go together, and, to be honest, brown isn't really your colour to begin with."

There were so many parts of that statement that Jack wanted to comment on, but he focused instead on, "Well what do you suggest? It's not like I'm stripping just because you say something doesn't work!" Despite that, Jack felt a spike of worry. Ri was gorgeous and, though the actual clothes he wore could be as strange as the man himself, he always looked great, even up to his eyes in animal parts.

"Pity." Jack did a double take. Did he just-? "I'm sure I could find something for you. Maybe blue or even white..."

Ri turned, clearly distracted, and wandered off to some other part of the building. Jack considered chasing after him, but eventually gave up on the idea. It wasn't worth the confusion, and if Ri wanted to give him free clothes, well...

Three hours later, and Jack headed into the kitchen/lab. He'd spent the time dusting down the animal statues, although the wolf really gave him the creeps. There had been a surprising amount of the figures, all in different sizes, and the blond vaguely wondered where they had all come from.

Just as he made for the sink, he heard his name called, and turned, only to get a face full of some odd leathery material. He pulled it off, scowling, about to yell, when he glanced down at the cloth in his hands. It was a coat.

"Well go on the" Ri smiled as though he hadn't just tossed six feet of material at him. "Try it on!"

A bit dazed, Jack did so. He wasn't really surprised to find that it fit perfectly. He pulled it closed, marvelling a little at the light but strong material. "...The Hell?"

"Perfect. I knew I'd have something that suits. Now, promise me you won't combine those two colours again, ok? Daphne would kill me for letting someone like you go around like that." Ri beamed at him, and Jack felt the last of his temper dissolve, but-

"Someone like me?" he asked, raising a brow.

"Yes, sexy, now stop fishing for complements. Gods no your ego doesn't need much more fuel." Ri snorted.

Jack blinked, then smirked, "You think I'm sexy? Well, I can't fault you, but I didn't know you swung that way."

"Really? I thought it was fairly obvious myself. Maybe you're just not good at subtle." The wizard smirked, "And just because I'm not blind doesn't mean you're my type, cocky bastard. You remind me far too much of Draco for that. Before you ask, I spent nearly six years repressing the urge to strangle him. Now shoo, go on. And if you ever walk in like you did today, I'll stuff that coat down your throat."

Jack had no idea how Ri did it, but he could never for the life of him remember walking out of the front door. He blinked, and was suddenly at the end of the road.

Stopping, the blond admired his reflection in a long window. The coat definitely suited him, and flared out past the waist. He looked every inch the king he was. Tossing his head and straightening with a smirk, Jack made his way back to the hideout. He was going to enjoy Crow's reaction, and maybe he could milk this for a change in style for the team. The cloaks _were_ a bit cliché.

XXxXX

More from Ri XD

Exams are coming up, which means I'll either disappear, or suddenly start writing more as I play the procrastination game. We'll soon find out, either way.

As always, let me know what you think, while I try and tidy up more of these odds and ends.

Thanks to everyone who favourited and to Sora2010, Firehedgehog and particularly Dannichigo, who went through every chapter (and Duo is definitely the type to declare his love with explosives, I'd love to see something like that!)

You all rock

-z


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